The Renaissance DBQ

The Renaissance DBQ “Rebirth” is a general term that many historians use to define the European Renaissance. Lasting from approximately 1300-1700, the Renaissance was a period of great change that led to many inventions, advances and achievements. Significantly, during the Renaissance people focused on the humanist belief. Humanism is a belief with a central idea that people should live a meaningful life. This “meaningful life” focuses on philosophy, science, art, and education as a whole. With the focus on education, humanist ideas overall were able to provide starting ideas to shape modern art and education. To put in other words, numerous changes were made during the Renaissance. Undoubtedly the massive number of changes made cause people

Markedly, a great deal of Renaissance artists defined themselves as Humanists. Among these artists was Leonardo Da Vinci, who uses studies to assist him in his artwork. Due to his studies in anatomy, Da Vinci’s artwork was very realistic, Evidently, The Mona Lisa is a realistic painting of an average woman. Additionally, the woman is placed upon a realistic background that looks real. Humanistic studies were used to improve artwork. Seen in the Mona Lisa, a new humanist technique called chiaroscuro was developed. To enumerate, this technique used lights and darks to create 3D figures. ALso seen in the Mona Lisa is the humanists discovery of perspective, which made distant objects appear smaller. Overall, these discoveries made Da Vinci’s art look much more realistic. These discoveries depended on humanism, leading to the fact that humanism was a critical belief that improved artwork. Similar to the Mona Lisa, Jan Van Eyck painted The Arnolfini Wedding, which used humanist artwork inventions. The Arnolfini Wedding shows two detailed people with very elaborate background objects. In view that this painting was produced during the Renaissance, it also used perspective. WIthout perspective, the background and people would look fake. When the people in The Arnolfini Wedding are looked at with attention, it is seen that light is used to give detail to them. To

To note, during the Renaissance there was a time known as the Scientific Revolution. During this period of time, scientific discoveries soared. “Zodiac Man” shows a woodcut produced by Johann Regiomontaus. It shows zodiac signs which were learned during the Renaissance, (Regiomontaus, document 15). To clarify, zodiac signs are linked with astrology, a major field within science. Johann Regiomontanus was an intelligent astrologer during the Renaissance, specifically during the Scientific Revolution. With the impact of humanism, Regiomontanus was inspired to study astrology, and he discovered zodiac signs, which are still used today. If humanism was not a major ideal during the Scientific Revolution, Regiomontanus might not have been influenced to study the stars and discover zodiacs. Humanism influenced people to open not only books, but their minds, and discover many things, especially in science. Besides zodiacs, during the Scientific Revolution, anatomy was discovered. There is a very detailed image of a woodcut by Andreas Vesalius in the book On the Fabric of the Human Body. The image shows the anatomy of the human body, including various muscles. (Vesalius, document 16). Learning the anatomy of the human body was a crucial discovery. Today since we know the anatomy of the human body, we are able to understand the